Hong Kong boss Andersen backs strikers to break goal drought, and insists side is improving despite another defeat
- Loss away to Vietnam means Hong Kong have now failed to score in 7 of their past 9 games
- Head coach Jorn Andersen says he won’t criticise strikers and believes team will come good soon
Hong Kong coach Jorn Andersen said his team was improving despite a continued failure to score, and guaranteed the drought would end after an encouraging performance in a narrow loss to Vietnam.
The visitors hit the woodwork twice, and striker Matt Orr was denied by goalkeeper Dang Van Lam, as Vietnam ran out 1-0 winners in Haiphong on Thursday night thanks to skipper Que Noc Hai’s controversial 32nd minute penalty.
And despite being frustrated by his side’s inability to hit the target, Andersen saw plenty of positives throughout the game at a sold-out Lach Tray Stadium.
“It’s not the first time that we’ve created chances like that. I can remember in Malaysia we had the same, we created double their chances but we lost 2-0,” the Norwegian said.
“But I see that the gap is closing everywhere. We are closing the gap between the better teams in Asia. It is coming closer and this is what we want to see.”
With Hong Kong facing a quick turnaround before they face Thailand at home on Monday, Andersen said his side “had to work” on their finishing after failing to score in seven of their past nine games.
Frustratingly for Andersen he has a ready-made solution in youngster Michael Udebuluzor, who scored a hat-trick in a training game last weekend but despite being born in the city still hasn’t been given a Hong Kong passport.
“We cannot buy a striker like a club, we only have the strikers that we have,” Andersen said. “We tried to do our best, but sooner or later I promise you we will make a goal out of these chances.
“What I see and what I learned was that when we start to play from the front we have started to create chances again. What we have to do better, everyone knows we have to score goals.
“If you don’t score goals you can’t win the match, but I don’t want to criticise my strikers. They tried their best and sooner or later I hope we can make a goal out of all these chances we have created in a match like this against such a good team.”
Andersen was less than impressed with referee Suhaizi bin Shukri’s decision to award the home side a penalty after playmaker Nguyen Quang Hai went down with some ease in the area.
Replays showed the creative midfielder making the most of his contact with central defender Helio Goncalves, who was unimpressed when the Malaysian official pointed to the spot.
“We were more aggressive, we were pressing high and we were creating chances,” Andersen said. “We created five good chances in the first half. Vietnam didn’t create more chances in the first half.
“It was not a penalty, but when you are a home referee … I was very angry with that. We invested a lot and the referee decided the game.”
The loss was Hong Kong’s sixth since they qualified for next year’s Asian Cup finals in Qatar, where they will play Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Palestine in the group phase. It will be the city’s first appearance in the continental championship since 1968.
Andersen was pleased, however, with the performance of Tai Po’s 23-year-old goalkeeper Tse Ka-wing, who made his debut for Hong Kong and pulled off a flying save in the dying minutes to keep out Pham Xuan Manh’s long-range effort.
“I’ve already seen in the Hong Kong Premier League that Ka-wing can play well,” Andersen said. “We gave him a chance and his performance was very satisfying.”
